Crash claims advocate for mentally ill

The executive director of the Utah chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was killed in a car crash Wednesday evening.

Vicki Cottrell, 58, was headed to a speaking engagement in Logan when her sport-utility vehicle spun out of control in slushy road conditions and went into oncoming traffic, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Mayo said.

Another SUV, southbound on U.S. 89-91, slammed into the driver's side of Cottrell's vehicle, killing her.

"We're just in shock," said Sherri Wittwer, now interim director of NAMI Utah. "Vicki is a mentor and a teacher to all of us."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. expressed his condolences Thursday, saying Cottrell helped educate many about mental illness and the way new medical treatments help the afflicted lead very productive lives.

"She traveled throughout the nation sharing this message of hope and will be greatly missed by all who knew her," the governor said.

For at least the past 20 years, Cottrell has worked for the nonprofit organization. She started as a volunteer teaching classes and worked her way up to the executive director's post, Wittwer said.

The crash happened at 5:12 p.m. near Milepost 12, close to Sherwood Hills golf course.

Everyone involved in the crash was wearing a seat belt, Mayo said, which saved the lives of the two men, both employees of Utah State University, whose vehicle hit Cottrell.

But some crashes are so bad that air bags and seat belts don't help, Mayo said.

Gaylen Chandler, head of the Management and Human Resources Department of USU, and Henry Nowak, special projects manager for the USU Research Foundation's Technology Commercialization Office, were both taken to Logan Regional Hospital.

Chandler suffered some bruising and abrasions, and Nowak suffered eight broken ribs, Mayo said. Both men reside in Cache County.

Before working for NAMI Utah, Cottrell worked in computer software sales and had a nice living, Wittwer said.

But after her daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Cottrell formed her own support group for people who have loved ones with a mental illness. Eventually she merged her group with NAMI Utah.

"Vicki was such a people person and a role model," Wittwer said. "She put the issue of mental illness on the map."

Going the distance to places like Logan was common for her, and she took a message of advocacy around the state, she said.

Cottrell's influence didn't just reach inside Utah's borders, though.

As news of her death has spread around NAMI, calls have poured into the Utah office from all over the country, Wittwer said.

"To know her is to love her," she said.

Part of that love comes from Cottrell's willingness to use her own family's struggle with schizophrenia as an example and turn it into something to help others cope, she said.

She tried to eliminate the stigma often attached to mental illness, and was tireless, energetic and motivated in trying to help, Wittwer said.

"She was amazing," Wittwer said.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com